Pipes or piles can be driven into the ground using a variety of techniques, including applying hammer blows from a mechanical hammer or a hydraulically powered actuator, or by applying vibrations to the pile at a frequency close to a resonant frequency of the pile by rotating counterweights or a hydraulic actuator. The application of continuous vibrations is often superior in soils that permit such driving, but hammer blows are resorted to when such vibratory driving does not result in pile penetration of the soil. A technique which provided some of the advantages of vibratory driving, of obtaining a large driving velocity at the lower tip of the pile for a given force application at the upper end, but which could be used when spaced and efficient shocks must be applied to the pile to penetrate difficult soil, and also simulated a conventional refusal test after installation, would be of considerable value. Reference to a pile shall also be understood to apply to a pipe, conductor or any structural member or conduit which is installed in the earth.